Lululemon 2011 Annual Report Download - page 6

Table of Contents
Growth Strategy
Key elements of our growth strategy are to:
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educators receive approximately 30 hours of in
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house training within the first three months of the start of their employment and are
well prepared to explain the technical and innovative design aspects of each product.
•
Innovative Design Process.
We offer high-quality premium apparel that is designed for performance, comfort, functionality and
style. We attribute our ability to develop superior products to a number of factors, including:
• our feedback-based design process through which our design and product development team proactively and frequently seeks
input from our guests and local fitness practitioners;
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close collaboration with our third
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party suppliers to formulate innovative and technically
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advanced fabrics and features for
our products; and
•
although we typically bring products from design to market in eight to 10 months, our vertical retail strategy enables us to
bring select products to market in as little as two months, thereby allowing us to respond quickly to customer feedback,
changing market conditions and apparel trends.
• Community-Based Marketing Approach. We differentiate lululemon athletica through an innovative, community-based approach to
building brand awareness and customer loyalty. We use a multi-faceted grassroots marketing strategy that includes social media, and
creating in-store community boards. We believe this grassroots approach allows us to successfully increase brand awareness and
broaden our appeal while reinforcing our premium brand image.
•
Deep Rooted Culture Centered on Training and Personal Growth.
We believe our core values and distinctive corporate culture
allow us to attract passionate and motivated employees who are driven to succeed and share our vision. We provide our employees
with a supportive, goal-oriented environment and encourage them to reach their full professional, health and personal potential. We
offer programs such as personal development workshops and goal coaching to assist our employees in realizing their long-term
objectives. We believe our relationship with our employees is exceptional and a key contributor to our success.
•
Experienced Management Team with Proven Ability to Execute.
Our Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Day, whose experience includes
20 years at Starbucks Corporation, most recently serving as President of Asia Pacific Group of Starbucks International from 2004 to
2007, joined us in January 2008. Ms. Day has assembled a management team with a complementary mix of retail, design, operations,
product sourcing, marketing and information technology experience from leading apparel and retail companies such as
Abercrombie & Fitch Co., The Gap, Inc., Nike, Inc. and Speedo International Limited. We believe our management team is well
positioned to execute the long
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term growth strategy for our business.
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Grow our Store Base in North America.
As of January 29, 2012, our products were sold through 155 corporate
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owned stores in
North America, including 47 in Canada and 108 in the United States. We expect that most of our near
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term store growth will occur in
the United States. We plan to add new stores to strengthen existing markets and selectively enter new markets in the United States
and Canada. We opened 33 stores in the United States and Canada in fiscal 2011, including our remaining four franchised stores that
were reacquired, and we plan to open up to 30 stores in the United States and two ivivva athletica branded stores in Canada in fiscal
2012.
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Develop our Direct to Consumer Sales Channel.
We launched our retail website in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. The addition of e-
commerce to our direct to consumer sales channel expanded our